Mercy and Hermann Area District Hospital are teaming up to enhance health care services for the residents of Montgomery and Gasconade counties.
The partnership, which starts March 1, allows for more Mercy Clinic physicians in Hermann and rapid transfer of critically ill patients from Hermann Area District Hospital to Mercy Hospital Washington.
“Mercy is committed to the patients, physicians and co-workers served by Hermann Area District Hospital,” said Donn Sorensen, president of Mercy’s east Missouri region.
“This partnership allows us to bring additional Mercy Clinic specialists to the Hermann area and transfer patients faster who are in need of critical and specialty care services at Mercy Hospital Washington, which is the only Level III Trauma Center between St. Louis and Jefferson City,” he said.
Other aspects of the partnership include consulting services, staff training and development and access to programs such as telemedicine.
Telemedicine allows patients to “see” a specialist in another town in real time via video technology.
“This collaborative effort with Mercy makes the future more promising than ever for our patients and our hospital, and Mercy’s healing mission resembles our values and commitment to caring for those in need,” said Dan McKinney, hospital administrator.
“It is those values that make them the best partner for us. Mercy is also a leader in bringing advanced medical care to rural areas, and they are growing,” he said. “We have an opportunity to benefit greatly from their expertise and our shared values while still retaining our independence as a community hospital and rural health care clinic.”
Hermann Area District Hospital is a 24-bed critical access hospital. It was built in 1967 and provides a 24-hour emergency room, inpatient and outpatient services.
The medical staff is composed of five physicians, four board certified in family medicine and one board certified in general surgery as well as several physicians who provide hospitalist and emergency department services.
The hospital is located about 30 miles from Mercy Hospital Washington and within 70 miles of Mercy Hospital St. Louis. Both Mercy hospitals offer more physicians and specialty services.
Mercy Clinic has a physician’s office in Hermann with two family medicine physicians and a nurse practitioner. A Mercy Clinic cardiologist, orthopedic surgeon and pulmonologist see patients in the Hermann Area District Hospital’s Specialty Clinic. In light of the agreement, other specialists will soon join them.
The hospital contacted Mercy representatives last year to discuss working together to ensure the wellbeing of its residents. The Hermann Area District Hospital serves the citizens of Montgomery and Gasconade counties, which have a population of 25,000.
Mercy is the sixth largest Catholic health care system in the U.S. and serves more than 3 million people annually. Mercy includes 32 hospitals, 300 outpatient facilities, 38,000 co-workers and 1,900 integrated physicians in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has outreach ministries in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Mercy Clinic is a physician-governed group of more than 1,900 medical providers across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. With access to Mercy’s facilities, electronic health records, telemedicine and each other, Mercy Clinic providers can give their patients the best care available, regardless of the patient’s location.
Patients of Mercy Clinic providers can connect to their own health records and health teams anywhere they connect to the Internet.
Mercy Hospital Washington is a member of Mercy. It is a 187-bed hospital and serves all or parts of Crawford, Franklin, Gasconade, St. Charles, St. Louis and Warren counties. The hospital offers comprehensive emergency, heart, cancer, surgical, obstetric and pediatric services and physicians who are part of Mercy Clinic.
For more about Mercy, visit www.mercy.net.
